SEER is an authoritative source of information on cancer incidence and survival in the United States. SEER currently collects and publishes cancer incidence and survival data from population-based cancer registries covering approximately 28 percent of the U.S. population.

The SEER research data include SEER incidence and population data associated by age, sex, race, year of diagnosis, and geographic areas (including SEER registry and county). A signed Research Data Agreement is required to access these data. Use of these data for publication purposes should contain a citation which includes submission and release dates. See Citations for SEER Data and SEER*Stat Software for specific suggestions regarding the citation format.

Number of Records in the SEER Research Data

The numbers provided in the table below are for the most recent SEER research data release and the previous release. Malignant and In Situ cases are defined using the SEER Behavior Recode for Analysis.

All Cases*

Malignant Cases

Malignant + In Situ Cases

1973-2012 Data (Nov 2014 Submission)

8,689,771

7,813,979

8,497,606

1973-2011 Data (Nov 2013 Submission)

8,206,697

7,395,344

8,039,860

Increase from 2013 to 2014 Submission

483,074

418,635

457,746

Number of 2012 cases

464,746

405,535

443,918

* All Cases includes benign and borderline brain and CNS tumors, cases coded as no longer reportable in ICD-O-3 and as only malignant in ICD-O-3 or 2010+. See SEER Behavior Recode for more information.